SilverStone TechnologyCase Storage Series Cs01 Premium Small Form Factor Case, Silver, Sst-Cs01S

Very happy with the case. Initially, I was not impressed with the build quality, but after a few months of use and a few hardware upgrades, I started to better appreciate the design. It is not easy to undo all the screws holding everything in place but it allows for good access when the box is filled with hardware.It can fit an mATX motherboard, providing up to three PCI-E expansion slots. This allows you to simultaneously use an encoding card, HBA adapter and a network card. It is really all you need for your home sever needs. This setup will easily support pf-Sense (NIC network card), NAS(HBA adapter), Media server(encoding card), consolidating all your home devices into one.Before buying remember that drive bays back-plates have SFF-8643 connectors, so you will need a server motherboard with a proper controller and connectors or an HBA card.

Excellent build quality, tool free case. Lots of room even though it's designed for an ITX based system. Can easily accommodate 8*3.5/2.5" HDDs in the main drive bays. You can also mount 2 SSDs inside the case. Included fans provide excellent air flow around the case. You can also remove 1 of the drives to make space for a video card or other expansion device such as a SAS RAID card. For small media center setups or NAS, this case is perfect for the DIY crowd.

I really like the idea behind this case but if you want a higher power processor you are very limited to cooling solutions. I have a 5900x and finding a cooler to fit was a little rough. I also have had problems with my motherboard overheating as well because without a very high power fan intake and the location of the fan mounts you can run into problems.It’s a solid case I just wouldn’t recommend it for high end cpus. idea I now wish I had a lower watt cpu but it does work now to with a lot of swapping of cooling devices.

Pros:*All aluminum construction*Easy to install components*Good airflow designCons:* Needs some tweaking for certain PSUs to fit.I took the chance and purchase the "Used Like New" from Amazon Warehouse for 60 dollars. The case came with no scratches except for the inside of case on side where the motherboard would be installed. The side is covered up so I don't really care. It came all the screws and the manual still in their individual packets. I would definitely say that it was worth the gamble and I am considering buying used items on Amazon more often.The case itself is an all aluminum construction with modern design will fit well in any environment. The side panels are on opposite sides of the case and come off with thumb screws so installing the motherboard was crazy easy. I purchased the non hotswap model and hdd caddies are conveniently located above the motherboard. I used the Thermaltake Silent 1156 CPU Cooler and barely had any more clearance so I highly recommend getting a low profile cooler.The only issue I came across was when I was installing the Corsair SF450 PSU the L bracket that holds one side of PSU covers up the on\off switch so I need to remove it. The L bracket is held on with screws so was easy to remove. The case is designed for the components to lay down in a 90 degree angle so gravity isn't pushing the part where L bracket wouldn't be.This last part isn't a con but just a consideration. The case only has a single full size PCI-E slot so I wouldn't consider this for a gaming PC build. This case meant to be a HTPC or server build.

I wanted to build a new home server, and needed it to fit in a very limited space. This case fit the bill, but was pretty expensive, so I was hesitant. I need not have worried -- this case is perfect for my needs. A small, dense system with room for plenty of storage, capable of housing a standard micro ATX motherboard and full AM4 CPU.The build quality is "good enough". The included 120mm fans are nice low-noise, high flow units. The chassis is fairly thick sheet metal, but the front palstics are kinda cheap-feeling. For a server that lives in a closet, this is fine. For a desktop people interact with every day, it might be an issue.If you are considering this chassis, give some serious thought to thermal management. The CPU will be beneath the drive cages, so height is very limited. I went with an AIO water cooling system (the SilverStone Tek Slim 240mm), and it seems to be keeping core temperatures under control. As other reviewerss have mentioned, there's very little airflow over the drives, so keep an eye drive temperatures.A chassis like this is inherently a compromise. By putting this much stuff in this small a space, there are necessary trade offs. Given those limitations though, this is about as good a solution as can be found.

I had read that keeping the drives cool can be an issue but I thought I could correct the issue by inverting the PSU to draw air out of the case and also using a water cooler and again reversing the fan to draw air out of the case (also water cooler greatly helped keeping heat out). It is tight build but that is what you get from using a small case and it wasn't too tough as long as you take your time and are neat. I had everything put together nicely and loaded my 8 drives and 2 ssd's and was I disappointed with the temp on the drives (all in the 40's and several peaking at 49). I was sick with disappointment, the fans were running at max and couldn't keep the drives below 40! So I opened up the case removed the drive cage and added a 6cm u-shaped strip of card board around the HD fans to force the air through the cage and the put everything back together. The results blew me away. Now all the drives stay in the low 30's except during a raid rebuild and even then I have rarely see a drive reach low 40's. I also moved the drive fans to MB control and now with light use the fans throttle back to near silence. Add a strip of cardboard around the fans and you will love this case or live with your drives in the upper 40's and hate it. I wish Silver Stone had included this simple modification but I am happy with my results.